Hawaii Gov. David Ige is allowing non-essential state employees on the Big Island and Maui to go on administrative leave. Employees on Hawaii and Maui islands who work in disaster response as well as in hospitals and prisons are required to report to their jobs, the governor said.

The hurricane was moving at 8 mph (15 kph), said meteorologist Melissa Nye.

"We are starting to see some of the rain show up on the Big Island radar," she said. Offshore buoys also had detected wave action associated with the storm.

A hurricane watch remained in effect for Oahu and other smaller islands, meaning tropical storm-force winds, excessive rain and large swells could arrive starting Wednesday.

The central Pacific gets fewer hurricanes than other regions, with about only four or five named storms a year, and Hawaii rarely gets hit. The last major storm to hit was Iniki in 1992. Others have come close in recent years.

"Winds tend to steer storms away from there," said Princeton University climate scientist Gabe Vecchi. He also said upper level winds, called shear, tend to be strong enough to tear storms apart.

Kauai resident Mike Miranda was 12 when Hurricane Iniki devastated the island 26 years ago. "A lot of people are comparing the similarities between Iniki and Lane," he said.

Iniki's turn into the islands was sudden, he recalled.

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